The present invention is directed to a method of bonding together at least two informational items carrying distinct sets or types of information to form a composite informational item.
The government requires informational items to be included with many pharmaceutical products. The informational items are typically provided as a printed product, such as a folded outsert, a folded insert, a booklet, or a label.
An outsert is an informational item formed from a sheet of paper which is folded in two perpendicular directions. The sheet of paper has information printed thereon, which is typically information relating to a pharmaceutical product or drug. The outsert may be adhesively attached to the top or side of a pharmaceutical container, such as a bottle of pills. Alternatively, the outsert may be inserted loosely into a cardboard box in which a pharmaceutical container is disposed. After purchase of the pharmaceutical product by a consumer, the outsert may be unfolded so that the consumer may read the information printed thereon.
A booklet is similar to an outsert in that a sheet of paper having information printed thereon is folded in two perpendicular directions. Prior to folding, however, adhesive is deposited along a centerline of the sheet so that, after folding in a first direction, central portions of each sheet panel are adhered together. When the sheet is folded in the perpendicular direction, the adhered sheet portions form a spine of the booklet. Side edges of the folded booklet are removed so that the sheet panels form individual pages of the booklet that are secured only at the spine. The booklet may be further folded to resemble a conventional outsert.
There are a number of patents which disclose methods of and machines for forming outserts and booklets. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,815 to Michael Vijuk discloses an automatic stacking and folding apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,195 to Michael Vijuk discloses various methods and apparatus for forming outserts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,931 to Robert Vijuk discloses a method and apparatus for forming a folded leaflet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,873 to Michael Vijuk discloses an apparatus for stacking folded sheets on edge. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,458,374, 5,813,700 and 5,909,899 disclose various methods of forming outserts. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,411 discloses various methods and apparatus for forming booklets.
Many products require two or more distinct informational items to be provided with the product. For example, a first informational item may be directed to the pharmacist and/or physician, while a second informational item may be directed to the patient. The information provided in the first and second informational items may be quite different. Consequently, pharmaceutical suppliers must take steps to ensure that each type of informational item is provided with the product.
Furthermore, recent federal regulations mandate that pharmaceutical suppliers electronically verify each informational item before it is applied to a pharmaceutical product. Because each informational item is typically produced by a designated folding machine, pharmaceutical suppliers employ manual labor to transfer the items from the folding machine to an assembly area, where the items may be grouped together for a given product. Manually handling of the informational items significantly increases the possibility of human error, which may complicate the task of electronically verifying each informational item before application to the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,689 discloses a multiple leaflet literature assembly having a first leaflet detachably secured to an assembly of leaflets including a plurality of integrally formed second leaflets. The first leaflet has a first identifier while the assembly of leaflets has a second identifier. Because the second leaflets of the assembly of leaflets are integrally formed and detachably secured to one another, the second identifier is used to identify all of the second leaflets.